Jury Nullification

John has a post up on Jury Nullification.

Rationally, if a jury can behave this way, then it can also return a conviction for an innocent party because it concludes that that person should be locked away anyway. Now that would hardly be justice, would it?

Jury nullification has been used in the past, and not necessarily to good ends. How many all-white juries in the old South premised their verdicts for white and black defendants on skin color?

I have a real problem with this concept too. Statistically, I don't think twelve people is a large enough number to be representative of the people. A statistical sample generally starts with 20 individuals and works up from there. There were far more people represented when that law was made than in any possible jury scenario. I don't like the exception to the rule of law that this represents.

You can't repeal Jury Nullification either. It is common law tradition not written law. However, as a commenter on Locusts and Honey points out, the modern legal system deliberately screens out potential jurors who may use this.